Antique whiskey found in attic during home remodel

St. Joseph, MO - When Bryan Fite moved into his Saint Joseph home in 2001, he knew he was buying a house that was a little older.

"One of the first projects I decided to do was to put in central air and central heat and, to do that, I had to have the house rewired."

Doing some of the work himself, Fite found himself in the attic moving floorboards around for the new wires. That's where he made a discovery.

"So I took them out and laying down in there were these tubes with writing on them. At the time, I thought, well, the house used to have steam heat so I'm thinking these are just steam pipes with some insulation on them."

The tubes with writing on them were actually bottles of whiskey, 13 of them, most of them still sealed with the whisky inside. And each bottle is nearly 100 years old , they were bottled in 1917. Fite has some theories as to how the bottles became stashed in his attic.

"The original owner lost the house and was put in a sanitarium for alcoholism. So, perhaps that might be a story behind it too, that that was his secret stash up in the attic."

Bryan and his wife Emily have been married seven years and, now, they have three children.

The Fites feel like the bottles are a part their antique home and do not plan on getting rid of them.

"I'm a history buff. I like the history of it. In my mind it's not what they're really worth monetarily, it's the fact that they're part of the history of Saint Joe and part of the history of this house."

"It's nice to honor and appreciate history, but i always kind of think also that things need to be left alone to a certain extent. I think it's amazing to be able to feel a little bit energetically what's been going on in this house for its history."

Bryan and his family will continue to be a part of their house's rich history.

Fite says he is thinking about opening one of the bottles and having a drink in 20-17, once the whiskey is 100 years old.